


In Loving Memoriam

by DrYuriMom



Category: Nodame Cantabile
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrYuriMom/pseuds/DrYuriMom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People change, and not always the way they'd want despite their best intentions.  And as much as we'd wish it, this world just isn't fair.  Franz von Stresemann tried his best in life to bring two hearts together that were destined to fly together side-by-side, sadly to no avail.  His passing gives him one last, best chance to pull off a miracle.  He'd better make it good...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Elise

In Loving Memoriam

 Prologue  
Elise

_Franz, someday I’m going to get you back for this, you old bastard.   May it be a long time from now,_ she added with a quick Sign of the Cross, _but one day, damn you, I’ll get you back for this!_

Elise Dietrich knew she was grumpy…no, in all honesty she was downright cranky as she made her way briskly down Terminal 2E at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, her compact, black carry-on bag trailing behind her with the characteristic clickety-clack of little plastic wheels on tile floors.  Her red eye flight had arrived late due to thunderstorms over Boston and there would now be just barely enough time for her to catch a taxi and get freshened up at her hotel room before her dinner meeting.  No nap for her, not even a short one.

It had been over a month since she had gotten a decent night’s sleep, and no amount of makeup would cover the dark circles under her eyes.  What slumber she had managed during that time, as often as not, was in the seat of an airplane flying back and forth from New York City over both Atlantic and Pacific.

_And to make it worse, I’m flying coach!  Me!_

She allowed herself a moment of self pity.  That last still really rankled her.  Just two years ago, things had been going so well.  Franz von Stresemann was still at the top of his game and, to ice the cake, by some miracle near the end of his long career the old dotard had managed to dig up the two most spectacular gems – rough to be sure, but still – of their generation and drop them both soundly in her lap.  And from such an unlikely source, too. 

Who the Hell would ever have imagined a pair like Shinichi Chiaki and Megumi “Nodame” Noda would pop up from the ends of the Earth otherwise known as Franz’s playground – Japan.

But oh what a difference two years makes.  Enough for all her ambitions to drop from leather seats to fabric; for her future to cramp like her legroom.

_I need a drink…_

She hadn’t had a beer in at least three days.  She had a policy of never drinking on airplanes, and she’d not been so gauche as to imbibe around Nodame given the poor girl’s famous appreciation for liquor and her certain lifelong prohibition from it now. 

Realizing it would take longer for her luggage to make it to baggage claim than it would for her legs to traverse the distance, she could afford a short break to stretch out and catch her breath.  She slipped into the lounge nearest where her bags would eventually appear once the French baggage handlers were done performing their tender mercies on the only belongings of hers she’d seen in so many weeks.  Ever since she’d been frantically summoned to New York to witness the passing of her gravy train…and her best friend as much as the two had never admitted it until the very end.

_At least Nodame and that little shadow of hers are the only ones still alive who saw me so weak and blubbery.  After the Hell they’ve both been through, I’m sure they won’t tell...even to Chiaki.  I’d never live it down if it got out that I bawled like a heartbroken schoolgirl, even at that moment._

_Damn, I’m getting old…_

Watching Franz die was easily the second worse thing she’d ever had to live through.  The worst would be the elephant under the table as she tried to pull off the miracle Franz was trying to manage from the grave.

“Whatever German dunkel you have,” she mumbled in tired French as she pulled out her purse to sort it for colorful Euros after several days of keeping greenbacks at the ready.  She found the needed reddish bill and had it on hand as the bartender slid the dark, frothy mug before her.  She managed a smile at the young Frenchman as she handed the money over, enough to cover the beverage as well as a generous tip for the handsome boy.

She knocked a strand of her lately unmanageable brown hair back from her face and took a long sip of the welcome beverage.  A taste of Munich, of home…although a home she hadn’t seen in oh so many years.  A reminder of simpler times.

_God, now I’m getting nostalgic!  Dammit, pull yourself together Elise!  There is life beyond Franz, you know.  As much as he’s set you up with this damned will of his, if it works, if I can pull this off, if Nodame and Yuiko can pull it off, if Chiaki can…_

Nodame and Chiaki.  That was the crux of it.  If Nodame could really play again after what had happened.  If Chiaki could get past his misplaced guilt that it was somehow his fault.  If they could be brought back together to make music despite it all, then it might still be worth it. 

If not…well retirement was looking awfully nice at the moment.

Still, as long as there was a chance, any chance at all, she’d pursue it.  As ruthless as was her well-deserved reputation, she delighted in nothing more than bringing talent to the world.  With Nodame and Chiaki to anchor it, she had an amazing portfolio of young artists in all honesty.  For starters, Yuiko Miyoshi was almost as much a surprise as her august older cousin, blossoming in both talent and body out of sight in Boston at Walnut Hills Academy and the New England Conservatory.  The synergy between Nodame and her child protégé was incredible.  She’d have signed the little thing up on the spot in Jordan Hall if the kid had been of age.  Maybe she’d have to drop in on her father in Japan while she was there. 

_She may be six or seven years away, but you can’t think too far ahead in this business._

She downed the remains of her beer around curled lips, the smile an ember of the old Elise. 

_While we’re charting things out this weekend, I should ask Kiyora what her plans are for another world tour.  She’s a girl and a stellar violinist.  Maybe if Nodame pulls this off, even if she and Chiaki can’t make it work then at least I could get those two in it together.  Add in that Taeko girl who spells Yuiko on Nodame-watch and who isn’t half bad on cello and…_

The infamously relentless talent manager pushed herself back from the bar, grasped her purse and suitcase handle, and strode out of the lounge feeling much better for the detour.

_I’m not beaten yet, Franz.  Just watch.  I’ll finish what you started and these kids will rise beyond everything we dreamed!_

She absently wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and sniffed, her newfound wide grin undeterred by the anxious emotions wildly spinning around her heart.

_Just watch, old man.  Just you watch…_


	2. Ryutaro

In Loving Memoriam

Chapter One  
Ryutaro

“The Milch Trust?”

Mine Ryutaro sat with arms out flung to each side along the back of a plush loveseat across from the brown-haired woman lounging against the comfortable well-pillowed arm of a sofa of the same design.  Elise Dietrich was exhausted and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the relaxing setting of the salon of the posh Rococo-style Mine household situated unassumingly on the second and third floors above Uraken, the restaurant operated by Ryutaro’s father.

Minutes earlier the two had finished a dinner center-pieced by elegantly laid out sushi and fish sashimi prepared by his father for the occasion.  Even Ryutaro had to admit his often quirky dad had outdone himself.  Despite her initial reservations about traditional Japanese cuisine, there was no doubt that his wife’s business manager had enjoyed the experience in the dining room.  The relaxed atmosphere that had begun there had transferred pleasantly to their new location.  The sweet dessert wine the two were sharing certainly helped maintain the mood, too.

“Yes, Ryutaro,” the woman answered familiarly in highly accented English, the language the two shared since she spoke barely comprehensible Japanese and he didn’t speak German, Spanish, French, or Russian.  Despite her tranquil posture her face had become serious with the sudden change of topic and even Ryutaro could appreciate her sharp eyes piercing through the dark circles that underlay them.  “The Milch Holstein Trust for Aspiring Artists, to be exact.  A foundation meant specifically to support and grow the mission of the Rising Star Orchestra.  I understand you of all people might find the idea particularly appealing?”

Ryutaro took a long sip of his wine as he strove to tamp down his excitement at the unexpected announcement.  He had expected this to be a simple social call mixed with reminiscing over the recently departed Franz von Stresemann, known as “Milch Holstein” to his friend Nodame and those with whom the famous playboy caroused, and plans for the interment and funeral in a few days.  Instead, after getting settled with the wine in the salon, the woman had dropped the most welcome news imaginable to the orchestra manager and director, more than that – the heart and soul, of the Rising Star Orchestra. 

_Okay, maybe the second most welcome news imaginable, but a full recovery for Nodame and reconciliation with Chiaki is far too much to expect in this lifetime._

“Um, yeah Elise, I think you already know the answer to that from Kiyora,” the young, blonde-haired man shared as he leaned forward with his hands clasped to keep himself from dancing around the room in joy.  “The Rising Star Orchestra has survived until now only because of my mom and dad.  Especially my mom since all of this,” Ryutaro waved a hand around to indicate the rich setting surrounding them, “and much of the property in this entire district is hers.   But she now says she won’t support us after this season.  She won’t tell Dad or me why, but she won’t budge and in fact up and left several weeks ago to travel rather than keep arguing with Dad over it.  We’ve barely heard from her since.  Mom popped this on dad, Kiyora, and me right after Stresemann-san got sick, so I’ve been waiting until after the funeral to let everyone know that we’re disbanding after spring.”  Ryutaro ran a hand through his hair nervously as he digested the stunning news Elise had shared.  “Wow, a foundation.  This is awesome!  I can’t wait for Kiyora to come back from her recital in Seoul so I can tell her this in person!”

“So you want to pursue it?” the German brunette pursued, her head cocked to one side and a smirk curling one side of her lips.

“Of course I do!”  The violinist couldn’t help himself now from doing a fist pump into the air to demonstrate his excitement.  “I love the Rising Star Orchestra and will do anything to keep it going.  I mean, with the money you’re talking about, we can expand and do young-artist outreach.   Maybe we can even go the other way, too.  During the opera with Chiaki, I got to meet a bunch of older artists who fell away from playing to have kids and non-musical careers.  They rediscovered their music later in life, but struggled because there wasn’t a good way to get back in after a long break from playing.  I’d love to create another semi-pro orchestra just for them…I just never had the money to make it work.  This would change everything!”

Ryutaro’s mind was spinning with all the possibilities he could explore now.  Maybe work with Momogaoka to develop a Sunday preparatory school program for youth.  Maybe weekend programs for adults, too.  The options seemed limitless…

“There’s more to it, Ryutaro,” Elise interrupted his racing thoughts and he came back to Earth.  “In the weeks before his death, Franz reached out to all his associates in Japan and Europe and committed many of them to matching contributions, amazingly generous support that would all go to the Lucas Beaudry Foundation in Boston.  As you know, despite the fact she doesn’t play publically at the moment, Megumi Noda is a superstar in Japan and Europe, more now because of what happened than she was before the…incident.  It’s one of the reasons why she fled to the United States to pursue rehabilitation.  Fewer paparazzi, among other things.  The amount we’re talking about would stagger you, and fully fund her project’s efforts for years to come.”

“Are you kidding me?  The old man managed to pull off all that?”  Ryutaro was overwhelmed at what he was hearing.  It sounded like a fairy tale.

“Well, he did have some help,” Elise added with some obvious pride.  “Still, Ryutaro, you should know that there is a catch.”

The woman’s distinctive English once again broke through the manic thoughts flying through the violinists head.  “A catch?”

“Yes, a catch.  Franz’s will stipulates four things must happen for his money to be released to create the Milch Trust, and the matching funds for the Beaudry Foundation will not happen if there is no trust.  It’s all or nothing.”

“What catch?” Ryutaro asked, suddenly feeling anxious. 

_Whatever it is, it can’t be too bad, can it?_

“Again, there are four of them.  First, the Rising Star Orchestra is to hold a tribute performance in Franz’s name.  The performance is to be held in Tokyo in NHK Hall.”

“NHK Hall!  That’s like the largest dedicated performance space in Tokyo!  I could never pull off reserving it!  I knew Stresemann was grandiose, but NHK Hall?”  In his panic to cling to his suddenly fading dream, Ryutaro grasped for hope.  “Is there any wiggle room?”

“None…but don’t get discouraged just yet,” she continued reassuringly before Ryutaro’s face could fall again.  “This is the perhaps the easiest of the four.  I’ll take care of reserving the hall, your job is only to fill it.”

“Only?” he squeaked.  “How do I fill over 3600 seats?”  The R*S Orchestra normally played for about fifteen hundred people.  Their performance hall seated about two thousand and they hadn't filled it since Chiaki went to study abroad.  Over three thousand seats seemed an impossible dream.

”Well, after you hear the remaining three stipulations, you’ll understand that won’t be as much of a problem as you imagine.”  Elise’s face, which had been vacillating between serious and smirking, broke into a smile.  It wasn’t exactly reassuring, in fact it was the smile he remembered seeing on the woman’s face when she’d ‘persuaded’ Kiyora to sign an exclusive contract.  Ryutaro realized, probably belatedly, that this WAS the woman with the reputation for being the most ruthless talent manager in professional classical music.  She was used to getting her way.

“Okay, what are the other three?” he asked cautiously.

“Number two,” Elise raised a hand with two fingers extended to emphasize her words.  “This is to be a celebration of Franz Stresemann, and he considered his work with the S Orchestra and the resulting Rising Star Orchestra to be among his most precious accomplishments.  He wants the performance to include all the living alumni of the S and Rising Star Orchestras.”

“ALL of them?” the young blonde man asked incredulously.

“I believe we can allow some wiggle room with this stipulation.  I think I’ve got some flexibility, but the intent is for this to be a grand performance and he wanted everyone to be there.”

Ryutaro relaxed a bit at Elise’s reassurance.  “I’m glad to hear we have some flexibility since there are some members out of country.  There’s also Chiaki- I doubt we could get him back to Japan after all that happened last year.”

“Funny you should mention that.  Stipulation Three is that Shinichi Chiaki must conduct the performance.”

Mine felt his heart fall again.  Securing and filling NHK Hall suddenly seemed easy in comparison.  “How the Hell am I supposed to pull that off?  Chiaki and I don’t even talk anymore after Kiyora, Tanya, Yasumori, and I told him off last year and he stormed out and flew right back to Paris.  He hasn’t left Europe since and I’m told by Nodame he swore he’d never come back again.  Not even she can knock sense into the idiot…not anymore at least.”

“I know the history, Ryutaro.  Once again, I’ve taken care of it.  I stopped in Paris on my way to Tokyo and discussed it with him.  He can’t refuse to talk to me – I’m his agent.  He’ll be here.  He’s not happy about it to be sure, but as you are well aware, I can be very persuasive.”  Elise’s smile widened to show her teeth. 

_Yeah, this is the Elise Dietrich I remember._  

“Ultimately,” she continued after a pause, “it all comes down to the fourth stipulation.  With it, all the others will fall into place.”

With a start, Ryutaro suddenly realized where this was going.

_No way!_  

“You don’t mean…”

“Nodame must perform at least one complete piano concerto with Chiaki conducting and one full piano sonata as part of the events.”

His jaw felt like lead and he couldn’t keep it from dropping at her audacity.  “Holy shit, you’re serious!”

She nodded.  “More than I have ever been before in my life.”  Ryutaro had never seen such passion in a woman’s eyes before.  “I swore an oath to a dying man to make it happen…and so did Megumi.  We were the ones with him when he died, remember.  He refused to go until Nodame promised, despite the fool’s obvious misery.”

“God, no wonder Chiaki’s unhappy.  I can’t believe the old bastard would force her like that, after all the Hell she’s been through.  It’s cruel!”

“Well, I can’t answer to his methods since I wasn’t in the room at the time.”

“You mean she was alone with Stresemann?”  Of all the things he had heard over the past thirty minutes, this was perhaps the most shocking news of all.

Elise shrugged.  “Remember, she was his medical power of attorney, the one who had to make the decision to stop life support.  She had good reason to feel in control of her situation.  Don’t forget also that by then he was a ghost of himself.  He could barely turn his head from side to side.  Nodame actually stayed with him as much as her own doctors would allow during his final weeks.  It was amazingly sweet of her, and I know Franz appreciated it.”  A surprisingly soft expression graced the beautiful woman’s face as she continued.  “One of the last things he said to me was that he hoped her blessing might actually manage to get him into Heaven even after a life like his.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ryutaro said with a chuckle.  “So Chiaki conducts and Nodame performs.  No wonder you didn’t see a problem securing NHK Hall and collecting most of the alumni.  I can’t imagine there’s anyone who’s ever played with us that won’t come running back to see what happens.  The public, too.  Hell, we could probably fill all five thousand seats at the International Forum at least.”

“Those are my thoughts as well.  If this works, not only will you have the money to do whatever you want with the Rising Star Orchestra, but you’ll have the notoriety to open the doors money won’t.”

“But that’s not the real point of this, is it?”

Elise’s softened expression continued.  “Don’t get him wrong, Franz truly did believe the causes were worthy.  He really loved what you all did here in Japan, and of course he supports the people who are making it possible for Nodame to play again.  But yes, the Milch Trust and the matching contributions to the Beaudry Foundation, more than anything else, are meant to bring them together again.”

Ryutaro had to give the old pervert credit for such a ballsy move.  And he fervently hoped he never ended up on the wrong side of the driven woman carrying out the man’s final wishes.  “Do you really think it’ll work?”

“Damned if I know,” Elise admitted before downing the remains of her latest glass in one gulp and allowing her host to fill it again.  “But what greater testament to the man than if we can pull this off?  Do you know what he said to convince Megumi to do this?”

Ryutaro shook his head, letting his expression show his interest.

“’A wounded bird will never fly again if it doesn’t spread its wings’,” she quoted.  “That’s what she said Franz told her…what swayed her despite her fear.  For all his faults, Franz understood people frighteningly well.  Especially Nodame.  Yes, Megumi is wounded both inside and out.  She’ll obviously never be the same.  But when it comes down to it, there are only two things that have ever truly mattered to that girl.  Her music…and her Chiaki-senpai.  If she doesn’t stretch her wings out soon, she’ll never fly again.  She’ll lock herself into the habits of a recluse.  If that happens, I’ll say right now that Franz is the lucky one.  He won’t have to live watching such a beautiful falcon forever Earth bound when the right environment and a gentle push might have set her soaring again.”

As romantic as the metaphor rang, Ryutaro just couldn’t visualize Nodame as a falcon, or any other majestic bird for that matter.  Maybe a cockatiel…one that had been house sat for a week by a practical jokester friend and taught to say all sorts of uncouth things much to the chagrin of the owner.  He would have laughed at the image if the circumstances weren’t otherwise so serious.

“Do you really think she can handle it, though?  Can she really manage a crowded auditorium?”

Elise shrugged.  “We won’t know until she tries, now will we?  We only know for certain what will happen if she doesn’t try.  And if she doesn’t try, then the answer will definitely be no.  I couldn’t live with that.  Don’t you want to hear her play again?”

“More than anything on Earth or in Heaven.”

“Then we have to have some faith in her.  And in that fool Chiaki.  Other than that, all we can do it join the audience and watch the spectacle.  No matter what happens, it can’t help but be spectacular.”


End file.
